A Two-level Approach to Tuning FACTS for Transient Stabilization

Transient stability of power systems is becoming increasingly important as the grid evolves toward adopting smart, distributed and renewable technologies. The steady state methods, such as (N-1) reliability-related methods and Remedial Action Schemes (RAS), do not guarantee stable system behavior during transients. Additionally, these methods are centralized, while the new technologies, namely fast communications and power-electronically-controlled devices, provide potential for distributed stabilization. In this paper, we propose an approach to designing dynamical controllers for transient stabilization of interconnected power systems. This approach is based on modeling and stabilization of interaction variables which describe how different parts of the system interact. The approach is applicable to large scale systems and different controlling devices. We illustrate it on a simple system with a converter-based Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) device as a controller.